Obj. ID: 36938 Torah finials dedicated by Galante family, Izmir, circa 1860
sub-set tree:
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The finials evolved from knobs at the upper end of the staves (Atzei Chaim) on which the Torah scroll is wound. Since the shape of the spherical finial recalled that of a fruit, it was called a tappu'aḥ, "apple," among the Jews of Spain and in the Sephardi Diaspora, and a rimmon, "pomegranate," in all other communities.
The earliest known reference to Torah finials occurs in a document from 1159, found in the Cairo Genizah, from which we learn that by the 12th-century finials were already being made of silver and had bells. Around the same time, Maimonides mentions finials in the Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Sefer Torah 10:4). Despite the variations on the spherical shape which developed over the centuries and the addition of small bells around the main body of the finial, the spherical, fruit-like form was the basic model for the design of finials in Oriental and European communities.
A most significant variation appeared in 15th-century Spain, Italy, and Germany, where the shape of finials was influenced by that of various objects of church ritual, whose design often incorporated architectural motifs, The resulting tower-like structure, which seems to have appeared around the same time in different parts of Europe, became the main type of finial in 18th-century Germany and Italy, as well as Morocco, brought there by Jews expelled from Spain.
There are several pieces of Torah silver using this particular technique of openwork. They are probably all from the same silversmith in Turkey. There are examples located in the collections of the Jewish museum in New York and Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem. The inscription on this pair of Rimmonim is from the Galante family, and the man remembered here is probably the grandfather of Avraham Galante, one of the foremost historians of Ottoman Jewry, who lived in the first half of the twentieth century. There is a Yad (052.001.065) in the Gross collection which was dedicated to the synagogue along with this pair of Rimmonim.
Inscription:
Dedicated by the distinguished gentleman, the honorable Rav Avraham Galante, son of the honorable Moshe, may his rock protect and sustain him. For the holy congregation of Bodrum, may he build his city, amen Selah